The Joel McHale Show: Grade The Soup Host's Return to the Green Screen

The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale, which premiered on Sunday, is essentially The Soup, but made for Netflix. The first episode made sure you knew it was a Netflix original, too, with Fuller House‘s Jodie Sweetin, Stranger Things‘ Paul Reiser and Luke Cage himself, Mike Colter, all welcoming McHale to the streaming service community as part of an “impromptu pre-taped sketch.”

Fellow Community grads Alison Brie and Jim Rash also made cameos (watch below), affording Brie the opportunity to plug GLOW and Rash the opportunity to plug Beyond Stranger Things… as well as his job working at the Netflix coffee bar (“Looks like it’s #SixSeasonsAndACoffee!”).

Otherwise, it was business as usual. After being woken up by audience member Kevin Hart, McHale walked over to his mark, turned to the camera and said, “Where was I? Oh right, The Bachelor.” He then proceeded to mock The Bachelor Winter Games,Sister Wives and the Love & Hip Hop franchise, and it felt as though The Soup had never left us. Best of all was the end-of-episode appearance by Mankini, who now lives in the Upside Down and wears a one-piece to avoid getting sued by E!.

The segments are slightly different, too. Instead of “Chicks, Man,” you’ve got “The Wonderful World of Weird Guys.” There’s also “Joel’s International Corner,” which is basically a reworked version of “Clippos Magnificos” that allows McHale to go beyond Spanish telenovelas and rag on soap operas from anywhere in the world. Among this week’s targets was South Korea’s The Secret of My Love, a series about a woman who is constantly losing her child, and Black Knight: The Man Who Guards Me, a series that features drawn out, easily avoidable motorcycle accidents. My only complaint (and it’s a small one) is that we no longer get a Clip of the Week.